Live At Sqamish Music and Arts Festival - Aug 24 - 26th Squamish BC

A 3 day music and arts festival in Squamish, BC August 24-26th, 2012 which is sure to whet the musical palate of most Canadians in good standing. The Tragically Hip, City and Color, The Sheepdogs, Rural Alberta Advantage, Airborne Toxic Event and Chromeo to name a few. In Squamish the ocean meets the mountains along the Sea to Sky Highway on the way to Whistler. Great place for a summer fest!

Originally Posted by M Sparks

It's all riding on this. You've got big dreams to ride to the top of the Flash Mob world. Well internet fame costs. And right now is when you start paying for it...in sweat.

I did Pemb 08, and both Squamish festivals. I need to see the day by day breakdown before commiting to 2012 as there's 2 acts I really want see(have seen multiple times) plus one I'm very curious about. The rest is a bit of a shrug to me, though there is a lot to like in a can-con kind of way. The 4 Virgin sponsored festivals done in BC since 2007 have all had lineups where they overpaid for talent.

A festival in the 15,000-20,000 range is all the that area can really handle. Pemberton was a extreme logistical nightmare at that size and lost $3mil. A high up live nation exec laughed at me when i asked if there'd be another one.

Squamish do need to be applauded for adding camping and shuttles to/from Vancouver this year.

There are 5 or 6 acts I really want to see and I've never seen the Hip, so pretty pleased. I think going to a festival on a much smaller scale will be nice. Do they usually release the set times before tickets go on sale? Friday is the day for public sale.

Originally Posted by M Sparks

It's all riding on this. You've got big dreams to ride to the top of the Flash Mob world. Well internet fame costs. And right now is when you start paying for it...in sweat.

It's a great fest but I felt the lineup was a bit of a letdown compared to last year. Tickets are really cheap for a 3 day fest, but the camping isn't cheap. Last year was $150 for 2 people (3 nights) for onsite camping. I loved the onsite camping as it was literally connected to the fest and you could go to your tent for a beer and a snack and make it back before the next act took the stage. This year onsite is something like $350 for 3 people (4 nights) so you almost end up paying the same for camping as you do for tickets. A cheaper option is camping at one of the nearby campsites but obviously you can't party as loud and it's either a big walk or someone has to drive every day. I heard last year cabs were basically impossible to find. Hopefully they add some more acts to make it more like last year.

Regardless, I'm still stoked to see Chromeo play the mainstage at night.

Debating this. I mainly just want to see QOTSA, but early bird passes are $99, where as single day passes are $89. So, for that extra 10 bucks I may as well. I have heard this is pretty boring festival though. As in, when there is no artists on you want to watch, there is NOTHING to do. So Im still not sure if I really want to go.

EDIT: Also, A Thurs-Sat festival is stupid. What is even more stupid is that this is the weekend directly AFTER the long weekend. Getting that Thursday/ Friday off is going to be difficult for a lot of people.

Originally Posted by bmack86

And it's been long established that Chris hates fun.

Originally Posted by Hatinisbad

I took my niece this year and it was her first Coachella. It was so fun to see it through her eyes. She thought it felt like a magical scene from Shreck. The one where all the fairy tale creatures meet for the first time in Shreck's swamp.

I want last year, it's a great weekend fest So, if you can make it, don't hesitate.

Since you have been, how the festival over all? What is there to do when there isn't any artists you want to watch? How is everything run? When I see this festival, all I can think of is the disaster that was Pemberton 08. Did you attend Pemberton? If so, how does this compare?

And how does camping work? How far is the car parking lot from the campgrounds? Its not like Pemberton where you parked on the airport tarmac and then waited 2+ hours for ~25 minute bus ride to the campgrounds while carrying all your gear, is it? If it is, I am out. If it isn't, what is the deal?

Originally Posted by stinkbutt

the long weekend?

August 5th is a stat holiday in Canada.

Originally Posted by bmack86

And it's been long established that Chris hates fun.

Originally Posted by Hatinisbad

I took my niece this year and it was her first Coachella. It was so fun to see it through her eyes. She thought it felt like a magical scene from Shreck. The one where all the fairy tale creatures meet for the first time in Shreck's swamp.

I've been to the last 3 fest, so all of them. The first year didn't have any camping, the second year had a limited amount of camping and last year had to levels of camping (Glamping, and regular camping).

Both camps are right beside the festival. You park in the parking lot about a minute walk away from the campgrounds and just walk your stuff in. The Glamping has flush toilets and is very spaced out, while the regular camping packs people in 5 inches apart.

Both camps aren't very big and will probably sell out pretty fast. They said they expanded it more this year, so if they added a significant amount of spots camping might not sell out that fast. If you want to get a hotel instead, most of them are a 20 minute walk from the fest.

Overall the fest is really well run. Basically no lines for anything except the beer garden, and if you are camping it's easier to just walk back to your site and grab a beer. I went to Pemberton too and Squamish seems to have learned a lot from that clusterfuck.

There are other games and art installations to keep you busy if you aren't seeing shows, but obviously nothing like Coachella.

Putting is Thursday-Saturday is weird. Last year the Friday didn't start until 4ish and didn't have any of the big names. They just opened the second stage and threw 5 local bands on there. The main fest will be Friday and Saturday if they do it the same this year.

Debating this. I mainly just want to see QOTSA, but early bird passes are $99, where as single day passes are $89. So, for that extra 10 bucks I may as well. I have heard this is pretty boring festival though. As in, when there is no artists on you want to watch, there is NOTHING to do. So Im still not sure if I really want to go.

EDIT: Also, A Thurs-Sat festival is stupid. What is even more stupid is that this is the weekend directly AFTER the long weekend. Getting that Thursday/ Friday off is going to be difficult for a lot of people.

Thursday is always "nothing" acts. They save the "main course" stuff for the 2 nights. It must be easier for them to piggyback OSL if they got Fri/Sat. They can't compete with Lolla. In 2010 they learned they can't compete with Bumbershoot(plus weather issues).

Tickets are cheap week of on craigslist, but finding a place to stay last minute will be tough unless you sleep in your car, friends have camping(I think they are strict on head counts) or sneak a tent in the woods.

I went in 2010 and 2011(& Pemberton 2008) and it seems to be improving every year with more to "other stuff" to keep you interested.

Think about waiting a couple weeks and see if QOTSA do something in Seattle. Annoyingly, I think some of the acts on this bill will be BC/Western Canadian exclusive shows on their album/tour cycles.

I agree with what everyone else said ... The one thing I would say is not to bother with VIP tickets. The food and beer area for VIP was no better than outside and while they had trailers for the washrooms there were only 2, and there was always a line. But the acts were great, the people were fun and laid back, and it's a cheap ticket for a good festival.

Originally Posted by M Sparks

It's all riding on this. You've got big dreams to ride to the top of the Flash Mob world. Well internet fame costs. And right now is when you start paying for it...in sweat.

Camping is really pricey. There are lots of campgrounds in the area that are way cheaper, but almost all of them are too far to walk. I find the camping worth it because you never have to spend a dime on food or beer since your own cooler is literally a 2 minute walk away.

Oh wtf. Camping is $80 a person!? I thought it was $80 for a camping spot w/o vehicle and $100 for camping spot w/ vehicle and either way you could fit how ever many people fit in that spot. Per person though? Fuck that. I am out. I will go see QOTSA in Seattle.

Originally Posted by bmack86

And it's been long established that Chris hates fun.

Originally Posted by Hatinisbad

I took my niece this year and it was her first Coachella. It was so fun to see it through her eyes. She thought it felt like a magical scene from Shreck. The one where all the fairy tale creatures meet for the first time in Shreck's swamp.

There's also a shuttle from Vancouver to the fest every day. If you're looking for cheap though the best option is probably get a room at the Best Western across the street and just pack 6 people in there.

I think last year it was something like $30-40, but I'm not too sure. I think there was more than one, but I know if you stayed until the end of the last band you could still get on it, in which case you wouldn't be back in Vancouver until probably 1:00am.

The first year I just camped on someones lawn, and I hardly knew them at all. There are lots of options, but I still just go for the camping because it's simple. It's still stupid expensive compared to most other fests.

Yeah, they really don't have much space and it always sells out, so sadly they can get away with charging these prices. The $99 tickets make up for it though. In my head I just move $50 from the camping costs to the festival ticket and it seems much more reasonable.